There is a song we sing in church that says “break my heart for what breaks yours,” and God, I know that your heart is breaking right now. Our world is broken, it is imperfect, and my heart is breaking even more each day as the injustices keep crossing my social media.
I saw black families talking about their reality and how they have to teach their kids to safely respond to the police. Within the video one father spoke candidly about how he was tased once which brought his daughter to tears. This brought me to tears.
I watched a video of a black man in tears because the business he worked so hard for was burned down by local protesting. He cried out asking why the looting and protesting would bring harm to those the protesting was supposed to support. This brought me to tears too.
My family read about peaceful protests ending in violence, a young girl being pepper sprayed, and these are only a few of the experiences we have read about in the past week. We cannot forget the unjust murders, arrests, poor treatment of a whole group of people, and the lack of accountability against those who are responsible for these terrible actions. And it is because of this lack of accountability and the perpetuation of these views that we have an outcry like we see today.
I have lived my life being kind to people no matter what the colour of someone’s skin. Our family is friends with people of many different nationalities and we live in what I feel like is a great place to live, but I don’t often hear the stories that are lurking below the surface. Rarely do Canadians in my circles share about their experiences of racism, and so I am often blind to know what is happening in my own neighbourhood. It often feels like the injustices are so far away, but really they aren’t.
Yesterday God broke my heart, and again today, and maybe it will happen again tomorrow and the day after too. I hate when my heart breaks, but it needs to. We need to see the injustice that God sees and we need to do something about it.
We need to be educated about the unfair treatment of others and we need to stop being a part of it. We need to stand against those who perpetuate racism too and to say something rather than silently watch. We need to teach our children to love others for who they are rather than making judgments based on the colour of their skin.
God loves everyone equally, and as Christians we should too. He sent his Son to die on the cross for everyone.
Galatians 3:28 says, "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
God loves all of us and loves us for who we are. We are all one in Jesus Christ.
However, because many of us do not love our neighbours regardless of ethnicity or we are blind to the pain they are feeling, God’s heart is breaking.
I pray this song, “Hosanna” by Hillsong, as a prayer for all of us. And I pray that you too feel moved to stand up for the rights of your brothers and sisters. Love all of your neighbours as God has called all of us to do.
Pastor Tina Rae
“Hosanna” by Hillsong
Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity